Rent For Living On The Planet

Passing along some good reads on extinction of species, climate change and lack of empathy and how it affects and will affect us as human beings and the world we all need to learn to better care for and live in harmony with.

Good Grief

“Ours is a world of rapidly increasing sameness. And as we lose more and more species to extinction, as more and more forms of otherness pass into the night, it has seemed crucial to me that we extend our empathy to these other forms. The embodiment of that empathy is our protection.”

THE EXTINCTION CRISIS – It’s frightening but true: Our planet is now in the midst of its sixth mass extinction of plants and animals — the sixth wave of extinctions in the past half-billion years. We’re currently experiencing the worst spate of species die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, it occurs at a natural “background” rate of about one to five species per year. Scientists estimate we’re now losing species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate, with literally dozens going extinct every day [1]. It could be a scary future indeed, with as many as 30 to 50 percent of all species possibly heading toward extinction by mid-century. More….

Earth is on brink of a sixth mass extinction, scientists say, and it’s humans’ fault

A vast chunk of space rock crashes into the Yucatan Peninsula, darkening the sky with debris and condemning three-quarters of Earth’s species to extinction. A convergence of continents disrupts the circulation of the oceans, rendering them stagnant and toxic to everything that lives there. Vast volcanic plateaus erupt, filling the air with poisonous gas. Glaciers subsume the land and lock up the oceans in acres of ice.

Five times in the past, the Earth has been struck by these kinds of cataclysmic events, more….

Make A Difference Today

Extinction is an enormous problem but don’t be overwhelmed. Together, we can fight it on all fronts and curb extinction and species loss. We can’t do everything at once but each action you take matters. Much much more…

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio meets with scientists, activists and world leaders to discuss the dangers of climate change and possible solutions.

“Extinction has got to be the second saddest word – right behind genocide. It is an ugly word, an enormous word – the end of an entire world. But it is also a personal word. It is the tragic death of individuals, the end of so many stories.
World Clock endangered species stats come from the World Wildlife Fund (and other sources) which has tackled the challenging task of counting endangered species. It is a difficult and time consuming job since most creatures do not fill out census forms.
Extinctions are very roughly estimated because nobody knows exactly how many species exist on earth. And, of course, nobody knows how many of the unknown species are disappearing each year. Scientists guess that extinctions are between a few hundred and a few hundred thousand. We chose a conservative figure of 10,000 extinctions per year.”